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WhiteEagle1980 (2421978) writes "If anyone remembers the Palace visual chat software from the 1990's, it's been remade since then as PalaceChat, which all the current Palace kids seem to be using these days. Back in the day, the original program would let you change your appearance to any image (albeit small and dithered back then), move around, talk in comic-like text bubbles, and even create your own games and so on, if you were one of the few who learned its not-so-user-friendly programming language. The new one has all that but with a lot of improvements (both visually and with features such as being able to play video in your room for all to see), and just recently has been submitted to Steam Greenlight as a free software download, in hopes of garnering the votes to bring in new people and get the party going again."

What is always fun is when you have a legitimate copy of a game but the copy protection screws up. . had that problem a few years back with Shogun: Total War. The disc was a bit scratched but all the important bits seemed to work fine except whatever proved to the game that it was an original disc. . ended up having to download the no-cd crack for it. I understand the need for developers to make it difficult for people to make copies of the game, but I wish they had ways to eliminate the annoyance to legitimate purchasers. I don't like having to dig out 'Disc 1' for a game, nor do I want my game turning into a lump of useless code in the future when the authorization servers are shut down--also, I dislike the idea that some games require an internet connection for single player play, that is just stupid. .

Well then, looks like I'll just have to torrent RA3, Tim Curry will protect my bases from anti-piracy explosions!
Really though, why bother protecting the Michael Jackson game? I would think the latest Pokemon games would have a far higher rate of piracy. . . or perhaps because people really don't want to be caught actually purchasing the game they are much more likely to pirate it.

I think a better example would be the partisans fighting in German-occupied countries where they had fragmented and even nonexistent leadership. There you had small bands of people form small pockets of resistance, had to live off the land, and gather up weapons and ammunition.

I am suspicious as well, the built-in keyboard has windows keys. If it is being marketed as a machine to run multiple OS's, why not put the old C= symbol on those keys. Since they are using the name, why not use the logo as well? It's a minor point, but if this is real and they are resurrecting the name to appeal to those of us who remember messing around with Commodores then details like that might matter a bit. Certainly anyone who remembers playing around with basic on the livingroom tv could figure out that the C= key functions as a windows button.

An anonymous reader sends along this excerpt from Shacknews:
"Gaming hardware developer Razer has announced a new multi-year partnership with Sixense Entertainment and Valve Software to deliver a '...revolutionary true-to-life, next-generation motion sensing and gesture recognition controller for PC gaming.' Razer, Valve, and Sixense, along with a selection of PC OEM partners, are aiming to produce '...ultra-precise one-to-one motion sensing controllers that use electromagnetic fields to track precise movements along all six axes.' Each controller will reportedly track its orientation within a single degree, and detect positioning within one millimeter. Thankfully, the device will be compatible with both current and future generation PC games."

jmp_nyc writes "The developers at Turborilla have remade the 1983 classic game M.U.L.E. The game is free, and has slightly updated graphics, but more or less the same gameplay as the original version. As with the original game, up to four players can play against each other (or fewer than four with AI players taking the other spots). Unlike the original version, the four players can play against each other online. For those of you not familiar with M.U.L.E., it was one of the earliest economic simulation games, revolving around the colonization of the fictitious planet Irata (Atari spelled backwards). I have fond memories of spending what seemed like days at a time playing the game, as it's quite addictive, with the gameplay seeming simpler than it turns out to be. I'm sure I'm not the only Slashdotter who had a nasty M.U.L.E. addiction back in the day and would like a dose of nostalgia every now and then."

Copyright does not protect 'ideas'. Copyright protects a particular--read specific--expression/manifestation of an idea. . . Ideas have no legal protections whatsoever in the US, except perhaps certain areas of patent law but that is not the same as copyright law. Now I agree that this lawsuit is silly, as is the fact that 'Happy Birthday' requires someone to pay royalties for each and every public performance. . . but the fact that I don't like it doesn't change the fact that someone owns the rights to those specific expressions of ideas. . . though I think in the end this woman will given a somewhat reasonable settlement offer or, more likely, will have the charges against her dropped due to the bad publicity against whatever corporation owns the film rights. . . a story like this is more likely to get public support than someone who entered a cinema with the intention of recording the entire film in order to put it on the intertubes. . .

They will exist in both a state of winning and losing this case regardless of the outcome. Cool! I would ask why this stupidity is allowed to continue but then I remember that people like this thought credit default swaps were a pretty neat idea. . .

(Nuclear-Structure With 112 protons & electrons That showsthat Germany Is Scientifically better than any other nation in the world, so take that Francium!
note: quite probably just gibberish in German, as it has been babelfished;)

I could kind of see the price being this high if the wires were gold, but 'high purity' copper for $499 wrapped in a woven jacket that reduces 'vibration'? Seriously, would the vibration of 1.5 meters of cabling be so much that the human ear could detect whatever signal loss occurred? Do people seriously buy this stuff or is this some sort of joke because if I knew anyone who actually spent 500 bucks on a bit of cabling that has 'signal directional markings are provided for optimum signal transfer' I would think they are an idiot with far more money than sense. I can understand scientific instruments needing as little signal loss as possible, but a home stereo? If rich people are this gullible, I think I'll take some high purity copper wire and coat it in a handwoven jacket with colorful markings that show audio signal electrons exactly which way they should be going for the best sound ever! Yours today for $1,999! Act now and I'll include the ultra-mega-super-duper signal enhancing plastic plug-in thing, guaranteed to direct the copper wires into gentle and loving contact with the connectors of your audio device. No extra charge!
Call now!